Those Bobby Bonilla Deferred Payments Begin Today

As Mets fans surely know, back in 2000, the Mets bought out the final year of Bobby Bonilla’s contract, for which he was owed $5.9 million. And as part of that buyout, they agreed to defer payment, with interest, to Bonilla beginning … July 1, 2011! And so today, Bobby Bo returns to the Mets payroll, and he’ll stay there for the next 25 years, collecting an annual salary of $1,193,248.20. To quote Dennis Gilbert, who had represented Bonilla earlier in his career, from a Wall Street Journal article published a year ago today: “Bobby’s a very smart person, and he understands the value of income.” [Hardball Talk/NBC Sports]